A Driving Passion : Corvette Dealership Specializes in High-Performance Callaways
Ever since the first twin-turbo, hyper-horsepower, curvaceous but well-muscled model rolled out in 1986, performance-car enthusiasts with the deep pockets to support their tastes have been demanding Callaways.
California’s smog laws kept the cars out of the state for four years, but in 1990 former race-car driver and internationally known performance engineer Reeves Callaway obtained clearance to begin selling his 375-horsepower version of the Corvette here. And California buyers responded, grabbing up 60% of the Callaways sold in 1990 and 1991--about 100 cars.
For the past year, one of Callaway’s star sales outlets has been a shop in Orange owned by Mike Vietro--”Corvette Mike,” as he prefers to be called and as his business is aptly named. With the exception of an occasional Ferrari or Jaguar, the nondescript concrete industrial building on North Anaheim Boulevard is crammed with Corvettes, from a $49,900 restored model made in 1954 (the two-seat sports car’s second production year) to a brace of ’92 coupes and roadsters.
Vietro signed on with Callaway as one of the company’s four California dealers after Newport Auto Center gave up its franchise during a reorganization early last year. Since then, Corvette Mike has sold 13 of the cars and forged a lasting relationship with Callaway.
Vietro’s dedication to the Corvette and to customer service so impressed Reeves Callaway that when he decided to launch his first expansion, he turned to the shop in the shadow of the Santa Ana Freeway and Anaheim Stadium. As of this week, Corvette Mike is also the site of Callaway West and a key part of a new chapter in the Callaway saga.
The twin-turbo Callaway, prepared with Chevrolet’s corporate blessings by Callaway and his crew at Callaway Cars in Old Lyme, Conn., has come to the end of the line: Chevrolet last year discontinued the L-98 engine that the Callaway dual-turbo package was designed to work with.
Callaway has said that he will build the first 10 of his run of 50 exotic Callaway Speedsters with the twin-turbo engine and that there are just three left to go--No. 7, in purple and silver, was delivered to its owner Thursday morning in the back lot at Corvette Mike. (The first Speedster was purchased after its debut at the 1991 Los Angeles International Auto Show by Otis Chandler, chairman of the executive committee of Times Mirror Corp.’s board and retired publisher of the Los Angeles Times.)
Aside from those ultra-rare, $166,000 roadsters, however, the 523 twin-turbo cars that Callaway has already sold are it; there aren’t any more.
Callaway has turned his efforts to coaxing as much power as possible out of the stock Corvette engine. Through a process he calls supernatural tuning, Callaway can add 100 horses to either ‘Vette engine--the 300-horsepower LT-1 introduced this year or the 375-horsepower ZR-1 that made its bow in 1990--without adding turbochargers.
The demise of the twin turbo and the resulting shift in Callaway’s emphasis could be good news for the thousands of performance fanciers who always wanted a Callaway ride but couldn’t come up with the money.
In 1986, when a stock ‘Vette sold for about $30,000, a Callaway was $60,000. When it was last available, the cheap version of the twin-turbo car cost $63,000, and the most expensive would have set you back nearly $90,000.
Callaway said during a visit to the Corvette Mike facilities Thursday that the new objective is “to bring out a high-performance, low-cost menu of products for the late-model Corvette owner.”
In the past, if you wanted a Callaway, you had to pay for the whole package. Now you can unbundle it and order a la carte.
Like the look but don’t care about the power? The Callaway Aerobody for the LT-1 Corvette is a mere $11,600 ($12,600 for the two-inch-wider ZR-1 Aerobody).
Callaway custom paint applied to a custom Callaway body or the stock Corvette shell is $7,500. A custom leather upholstery package for either model is $15,000. At the bottom of the appearance group list, the specially designed Callaway/OZ modular wheels run $4,250 a set.
On the technical side, a Callaway suspension system costs $2,850 for the LT-1 and $2,600 for the ZR-1; the Callaway/Brembo Indy brake system is $8,500; and the muscular Callaway SuperNatural engine conversion is $10,390 for the LT-1 model and $14,750 for the ZR-1.
On this side of the Mississippi, the orders for those components will come through the Callaway West operation at Corvette Mike.
The entire palette of Callaway options, retrofitted in an existing car or ordered as a new car prepared directly at the Callaway plant, transforms a $33,000 stock LT-1 Corvette into a $94,600 CL-1 (the C is for Callaway) with custom paint and body, leather interior, special suspension, brakes, wheels and tires--and the 400-horsepower engine conversion.
To turn a $62,000 high-performance factory ZR-1 Corvette with a stock 375-horsepower engine into a fully tricked-out, 475-horsepower CR-1 from Callaway adds $65,300 to the price--for a total of $127,300.
Callaway said that his company has been selling the components for about six months and that orders “are driven by horsepower.” Few customers are asking for the entire package, he said, but many who have ordered the engine or suspension conversions have begun following up with requests for additional performance or appearance items.
As part of the launch of Callaway West, Vietro said, Callaway is mailing letters to late-model Corvette owners as well as to all Callaway owners explaining the new products and services and inviting inquiries either at Callaway’s factory in Connecticut or at the new branch in Orange.
“For years, people have had these cars on a pedestal, but the cost kept many from buying,” Vietro said. “This new program is going to be big because now you can get the piece you want.”
At a Glance: Corvette Mike
* Owner: Mike Vietro
* Founded: 1982
* Employees: 10
* 1991 sales: 230 cars
* 1991 revenue: $5.2 million in car sales, $750,000 in parts and service
* Current inventory: 40 Corvettes; model years range from 1954 to 1992
* Affiliation: With Callaway Cars, 1991; opened Callaway West on July 21, 1992
Source: Corvette Mike
